Harnessing the "Like": Understanding Peer Support's Effects on Exercise
An, Hee.
2018
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Abstract: This pilot study examined the relationship between receiving peer support on social media (SM) through "likes" and attitude towards, motivations behind, and frequency of exercise behaviors in college-aged students. Following recent research on brain activation in adolescents and emerging adults who viewed images they posted on SM with a high number of "likes", this pilot study sought to ... read moreanswer the questions of how the number of "likes" on an exercise selfie would affect frequency of, attitudes toward, and motivations behind physical activity (PA). It was hypothesized that higher number of "likes" would increase frequency of PA while creating more positive attitudes towards PA and motivations to be more socially oriented. Undergraduate students (N = 8) underwent a 1 week-long participation period in which they posted photos of exercise behaviors onto the study website which mimics one of the most popular SM sites, Instagram. Participants were randomly assigned into low and high "like" groups and their pictures were assigned "likes" based on their group. Deception was used to convince participants that their peers volunteered to "like" their photos on the site. It was predicted that high number of "likes" on SM posts related to exercise would increase exercise frequency and positive attitudes toward exercise while shifting motivations behind exercise to socially geared reasons. As the sample size of the pilot study was too small, no significant differences between the two time points were expected or revealed. However, the results, as well as the design, of this pilot study seek to inform future studies using social support of SM to change exercise behaviors. This pilot study has highlighted the importance of the timing of the study as well as the sample size and make up. It has also revealed the need to focus in on the concept of motivation over attitudes towards physical activity. Lastly, this pilot will yield a more efficient and effective website, one that can track exercise minutes and more accurately represent the target social media platform.
Thesis (M.S.)--Tufts University, 2018.
Submitted to the Dept. of Child Development.
Advisor: Sasha Fleary.
Committee: Julie Dobrow, and Justin Hollander.
Keywords: Behavioral psychology, Health sciences, and Social psychology.read less - ID:
- t148fv366
- Component ID:
- tufts:24996
- To Cite:
- TARC Citation Guide EndNote